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Recap / What We Do In The Shadows S 5 E 5 Local News

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A water main breaks on Staten Island, and Channel 8 is reporting about the flood it caused. When reporter Joanna Roscoe interviews Nandor, who was an eye witness to the break, Nandor accidentally draws unwanted attention to himself and the other vampires, forcing the roommates to take drastic measures to ensure their secret is not discovered. Meanwhile, Guillermo can't help them as he is attending a family dinner for what may be the last time now that his transformation to vampire is progressing.

Tropes featured in this episode:

  • Booby Trap: Colin Robinson's first reaction to learning the vampires may have been exposed is to boobytrap the whole house to fight back against the Angry Mob that will likely come now. In the episode's final scene, Guillermo ends up setting off most of the traps.
  • Caught on Tape: The vampires get into even deeper trouble when they are filmed while using their powers to get their car out of a sinkhole, forcing them to intercept the van with the footage before it can be brought back to the studio.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Nadja has had a suitcase ready in case she ever had to flee from an Angry Mob again since the day they arrived on Staten Island. She also included hair dye and a checklist for a new identity to assume.
  • Did Not Think This Through: Said almost word for word by the Guide when, after she too dyes her hair, Nadja points out that now together they are still a blond and a brunette.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength: As he leaves his mom's appartment, Guillermo breaks a hand rail in the elevator with his new vampiric strength.
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set: The vampires ultimately end up hijacking the channel 8 news to keep anyone from seeing the footage that clearly shows them using their vampiric powers.
  • Dye or Die: Nadja dyes her hair blond as part of her escape plan. Later the Guide dyes her own hair black for the same reason.
  • Endangering News Broadcast: The vampires are in danger of being found out due to Nandor giving them away during a news broadcast. Played with, in that no one on the news team seems to take much notice.
  • Holy Burns Evil: Guillermo's mom gives him a necklace with a cross for good luck. Since Guillermo is already partly vampire, the cross causes him pain and burnmarks around his neck.
  • Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Laszlo's plan involves killing Joanna Roscoe. He eventually settles for just kidnapping her.
  • Mass Hypnosis: Nandor's first plan to undo the damage is to go back to Joanna Roscoe and hypnotize all of her viewers through the live broadcast. It fails because the feed gets cut off for the weather report. He and Nadja succeed after hijacking the news.
  • Mondegreen Gag: Due to Nandor's heavy accent and the noise of the burst pipe in the background, Joanna mishears him when he gives his name as "Nandor the Relentless" and he is instead captioned as "Nandor De Laurentiis".
  • Saying Too Much: Nandor in his first interview; first he mentions the water main break is the worst flood since the flood of 1892, which he quickly tries to correct to 1992, and then he says he and his roommates have been living on Staten Island for centuries. He runs home in panic after this second screw-up.
  • Trapped the Wrong Target: Colin Robinson ends up caught in one of his traps when Guillermo triggers it, and Guillermo ends up setting off a lot of the booby traps near the end of the episode.
  • The Unmasqued World: What Nandor feared he created due to his slip-up on live television. Eventually subverted when the Vampires are able to hypnotise everybody into forgetting what they saw.

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