The Grand Opening (What We Do in the Shadows)
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Episode 3
| "The Grand Opening" | |
|---|---|
| What We Do in the Shadows episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Kyle Newacheck |
| Written by | Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil |
| Cinematography by | Michael Storey |
| Editing by |
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| Production code | XWS04003 |
| Original air date | July 19, 2022 |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
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"The Grand Opening" is the third episode of the fourth season of the American mockumentary comedy horror television series What We Do in the Shadows, set in the franchise of the same name. It is the 33rd overall episode of the series and was written by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil, and directed by co-executive producer Kyle Newacheck. It was released on FX on July 19, 2022.
The series is set in Staten Island, New York City. Like the 2014 film, the series follows the lives of vampires in the city. These consist of three vampires, Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja. They live alongside Colin Robinson, an energy vampire; and Guillermo, Nandor's familiar. The series explores the absurdity and misfortunes experienced by the vampires. In the episode, Nadja experiences problems with the opening act of the nightclub.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.234 million household viewers and gained a 0.07 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The episode received extremely positive reviews from critics, who praised the humor, performances and absurdity.
Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) welcomes new vampires to the grand opening of her nightclub, Nadja's. One of the attendees is vampire rapper Richie Suck (Affion Crockett), who hasn't released an album in a decade but will perform on the opening night. However, the Guide (Kristen Schaal) informs her that Richie has cancelled his performance.
Nadja and the Guide visit Richie at his house, where they are taken aback by his manager, Richie's human familiar "Doctor" Tom (Fred Armisen). Tom does not want Richie to perform, forcing Nadja to give him a larger sum of money for the services. However, per Tom's insistence, Richie will only plays jazz music. Meanwhile, Baby Colin (Mark Proksch) has quickly grown into a kid, now spending time making YouTube videos about Legos. He takes a particular interest in musical theatre, which annoys Laszlo (Matt Berry) as he hates it. He tries to get him interested in stealing art, but eventually discovers that he cannot force him in changing his interests.
Wanting to impress Marwa (Parisa Fakhri), Nandor (Kayvan Novak) decides to ask the djinn (Anoop Desai) to get the world's largest penis. However, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) advises him to properly detail the wish, as the djinn may distort his wish in some way. They manage to come up with a specific wish, which is granted to Nandor. Nevertheless, Nandor discovers that the djinn tricked him into saying that he would always think of Guillermo when using it. At the nightclub, Richie prepares to perform his jazz number, but after talking with Nadja, decides to oppose Tom. He throws him into a crowd of vampires, who feed off him. However, Richie reveals that he now will just perform improvisational comedy, angering the crowd. Baby Colin then goes on stage and sings "Rap, Tap on Wood" from Born to Dance, which entertains the vampires due to their admiration for child novelty acts.
Production
Development
In June 2022, FX confirmed that the third episode of the season would be titled "The Grand Opening", and that it would be written by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil, and directed by co-executive producer Kyle Newacheck. This was Johnson's sixth writing credit, Marcil's third writing credit, and Newacheck's ninth directing credit.[1]