WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for What We Do in the Shadows Season 3, Episode 6, "The Escape," now available on Hulu via FX.
At 2020's Comic-Con, the cast and creators of What We Do in the Shadows teased that Season 3 would feature more creatures common to the horror genre, including a hellhound. That hellhound was revealed to be a friendly golden retriever in last week's episode, but this week, the show made good on its promise and gave audiences a half-hour filled with over-the-top and side-splittingly hilarious sight gags involving an impressive variety of hideous monsters.
The mayhem begins when Nandor and Nadja discover the Sire has, indeed, escaped, as foreshadowed in the season premiere. It was the Council's responsibility to look after him, but Nandor and Nadja are still bickering about their respective jobs as co-leader, and some of those responsibilities have apparently fallen through the cracks. Nandor's been trying to Marie Kondo the Council's collections while Nadja has been writing reminders on post-its. One reads, "Ask Nandor feed Sire," but Nadja realizes she never passed along the message. In desperation, the Sire used the sharpened bones of his victims to tunnel free. Rather than admit fault, Nadja convinces Nandor that she told him, and he simply forgot.
Nandor's pretty gullible and also quite a crier. Though it's not what he would've done as a war general, he takes the blame. Though Nadja advises him against it, he holds a press conference to alert other vampires to the situation. And a dire situation it is. The Sire is the original vampire, and legend has it that if he dies, it's curtains for all of vampire kind. Nandor and Nadja are apt to believe that legend, but Colin and Laszlo are skeptical. If true, then Nadja and Laszlo would've perished when Guillermo killed the Baron. The Baron is definitely dead, they assure themselves. But they decide to dig up his corpse just to put their minds at ease.
At first, their efforts only produce the skull of a census taker from 1990, but then the housemates hear faint calls from across the yard. The Baron has managed to survive for the last two years by subsisting on blood-soaked soil. He tried to dig himself out but could only crawl sideways because his arm was charred to his chest. It's a bit of a stretch to say he's alive. Nadja calls him "alive-ish." He's been reduced to an Anakin Skywalker-like singed torso with one eye popping out of his skull and one ear lost somewhere in the living room... though he has a surprisingly healthy attitude about it.
His re-emergence from the grave presents a problem for the housemates -- and for vampires in general. If he's alive, that means the legend might be true, and they must track down the Sire at once. As they struggle to put together a workable plan, Guillermo steps up to offer his services. He is, after all, a skilled vampire hunter. When they accept, he grabs for even more power and orders the vampires around, lest he'll leave and they'll risk their own demise. Guillermo sends Nadja along with the Guide to check in with her intel sources. He requests a glass of water, no ice, from Colin Robinson and tells Laszlo to put on more sensible shoes. Then, they're off to catch a vampire.
The intel or "the Watchers" are a pair of gossipy gargoyles who look forward to visits from the Guide so they can swap dirt. She asks if they've seen the Sire. They want to rag on a vampire for having to lower the price of his haunted mansion "in this market." But they have seen a creature that matched the Sire's description at Ozone Park. Meanwhile, Colin Robinson made a post on Nextdoor to see if anyone in the neighborhood has seen anything suspicious, but it just "turned into an orgy of racism."
The search party descends on the park -- the Baron riding the golden retriever hellhound like a tiny horse -- and quickly comes across the severed arm of a security guard. They follow his tracks into a darkened big box store, where he's rummaging through the wares. The Sire is part vampire, part winged beast and is not keen to return to his "lovely, cozy prison cell." Laszlo tries to seduce him by playing the harmonica but is attacked and swallows the instrument. Guillermo has crafted a giant net out of sports equipment, and Nandor -- who armored himself with a bike helmet, hockey pads and a huge pink flamingo pool float -- decides to use him as human bait. Elsewhere in the store, the Baron is getting around with the help of a child's ride-on convertible, which he believes he is controlling with his mind as the Guide operates the remote control.
Nandor yanks Guillermo away from the Sire, abandoning his plan and explaining that he should face the creature since it's his fault. Nadja stops him and thinks about coming clean but instead tells him his bike helmet looks stupid. Just as the Sire is about to rip out Nandor's throat, the Baron begins to translate for him. He doesn't want to be imprisoned anymore. Now that they can all communicate, the group works out a new living arrangement that suits everyone. The Sire, the Baron and the hellhound all move to a house in a more rural part of New Jersey with a bigger yard for the dog to chase squirrels in. That's when the golden retriever shows its true colors and breaths fire, setting the squirrel and the tree ablaze. Though the Sire's ancient and the Baron has some serious physical limitations to contend with, they're still able to feed by advertising their "rustic, remote" rental on Airbnb.
The first six episodes of What We Do in the Shadows are streaming now on Hulu via FX.
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