We have to talk about Nandor on What We Do in the Shadows. It brings me no joy to say this. But heading into next week’s season finale, it’s unclear what direction the character is headed. And it feels very much like the wheels are spinning.
The character’s season four arc has been puzzling from the start. Resuming his season three quest to find a life partner, Nandor resurrects all 37 of his wives (and a few husbands) with the help of a Djinn (Anoop Desai), eventually settling on the woman he believed to have been his favorite, a woman named Marwa (Parisa Fakhri). Shadows is constantly throwing new characters into the mix and always makes excellent use of its guest and recurring stars, so it was especially frustrating when over the course of the season, Marwa was given nothing to do other than serve as the subject of Nandor’s casual cruelty.
In addition to bringing her back to life against her will in the first place, and then using his wishes to briefly bring her parents back to life for their wedding (he instructs the Djinn to give them an “early departure” after brunch), Nandor robs Marwa of any semblance of autonomy by wishing for her to “like the same things he likes,” and then quickly grows bored of someone who agrees with him all the time. Vampires are obviously selfish creatures, but the dynamic has lacked the adversarial joy of Nandor’s relationship with, say, Guillermo.
Which brings us to this week’s penultimate episode, “Freddie.” After being given a heartwarming, yet long overdue coming out story just a few episodes back, Guillermo reveals that he’s finally in a relationship with a man named Freddie (Al Roberts), who he met while living with Nadja in London between seasons three and four. When Freddie shows up at the house unannounced, Nandor becomes infatuated with Freddie for some reason, but really, the motivation is unclear — whether it’s about Nandor’s obviously repressed feelings for Guillermo or if he was really just that charmed by Freddie.
But then the show took things a step too far — if the visceral reactions on social media have been any indication, anyway — by using one of his three remaining wishes to turn Marwa, the only woman of color in the cast, into a carbon copy of Freddie. The small consolation is that Freddie probably would have been no good for Guillermo anyway in that he’s clearly a narcissist, as evidenced by the fact that the two Freddies immediately become enamored with one another. But Guillermo also deserved to find that out on his own?
When Nandor grows bored of Freddie/Marwa, he sets them free to explore the world. As an added cringe, he leaves Marwa, who is again, portrayed by an Iranian American actress, in the form of Freddie, a white man, because “she seemed so much happier like that.” In a final insult to injury, Freddie predictably heads to London to quite literally find himself — dashing Guillermo’s hopes for good.
It’s just … why is What We Do in the Shadows doing this? There’s still time to fix all of it, maybe, as the series does a finale like no other. But after Nandor gained a surprising amount of character development in the third season through an existential crisis, this feels particularly disappointing. When his first attempt to attract a mate falls through, Nandor joins a cult, loses his purpose in life, and eventually agrees to travel to his ancestral homeland with Guillermo to finally make him a vampire.
So to have season four focus once again on Nandor’s fruitless attempts at a love life feels especially regressive. All signs seem to point that eventually, Nandor is going to come to the realization that he’s in love with Guillermo. If nothing else, the scene in which Marwa, liking all the same things Nandor likes, confesses her love to Guillermo during the wedding was deft foreshadowing.
If and when that happens, it’s going to be fantastic. Some of the funniest moments of the show come from Nandor and Guillermo’s interactions (look no further than their epic season three finale fight scene), and to have them bickering as a couple would be absolutely delightful. It’s just disappointing that they had to bring in a character for the sole purpose of being abused to help Nandor come to that realization.
Can the finale manage to stick the landing while giving justice to both Marwa and Guillermo, and hopefully getting Nandor’s head out of his own ass? That remains to be seen, but there are still two wishes left, and we sure hope Nandor uses them wisely.