S02.E01: Resurrection / S02.E02: Ghosts

[Catfi9ht]

On 4/19/2020 at 8:01 PM, Orbert said:

I realize that Guillermo being the whipping-boy is part of the entire premise for the show, but it's reached the point where I get genuinely pissed at Nandor for badly he treats Guillermo.  When the others were also piling on him, it was even worse.  To me, it's just not funny at all.  I mean, I get it; he's their familiar, their slave.  But it's basically bullying, and when the idiot Topher came along and stole all the credit, and then when the others literally couldn't see anything wrong with him after he was clearly a zombie, it just didn't work for me.  Guillermo looked so crushed when he told them honestly that he wished they knew how hard he worked for them, and just wanted some appreciation.

Okay, I'm sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.  There were plenty of other, funny moments, and yeah, I laughed out loud multiple times.  But I really wanted Guillermo to just stake Nandor a few times.  It seems to be building toward a payoff, the fact that he's a slayer.  I hope we get there soon.

I completely agree, and I can't stand mean-spirited humor either. Guillermo's treatment is teetering on the edge for me. The saving grace was the moment he showed his stakes and seems to be gaining self-confidence as a vampire assassin assassin. (Lame joke, I know!)

I hope they move toward encouraging his character growth. The optimist in me thinks this is where they're headed.

[sistermagpie]

On 4/21/2020 at 11:07 AM, Catfi9ht said:

I completely agree, and I can't stand mean-spirited humor either. Guillermo's treatment is teetering on the edge for me. The saving grace was the moment he showed his stakes and seems to be gaining self-confidence as a vampire assassin assassin. (Lame joke, I know!)

I hope they move toward encouraging his character growth. The optimist in me thinks this is where they're headed.

It seems like they've realized he's definitely the protagonist, so the audience is supposed to be on his side. It's not like on Parks & Rec where people mistreating Jerry was just a side-pattern. The show knows how satisfying it is to see Guillermo figuring out he can kick ass and in fact could kick Nandor's ass. The real thing is that he wants to be a vampire, so the most obvious arc for him is maybe figuring out he doesn't really want to be one. Loved his reaction to Topher not caring about it, like he just couldn't believe it.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Guillermo looked so crushed when he told them honestly that he wished they knew how hard he worked for them, and just wanted some appreciation.

Eventually they are going to find out the vampiric council is sending assassins after them for escaping. That needs to get resolved somehow. Whether or not it makes them appreciate Guillermo is another matter.

Quote

I realize that Guillermo being the whipping-boy is part of the entire premise for the show, but it's reached the point where I get genuinely pissed at Nandor for badly he treats Guillermo.  When the others were also piling on him, it was even worse.  To me, it's just not funny at all. 

We're talking about show with vampires and familiars here,  I hardly think one needs to project. Guillermo is an idiot if he really believes one day Nandor is going to make him a vampire. Especially after that wake-up call he got last season in the room full of other familiars equally as delusional as he is. Not one of them was ever going to be a vampire and they were all sure they would be, despite the fact that none had ever met a familiar who had been turned into a vampire before.

[Orbert]

Yeah, I guess Guillermo does bring it upon himself.  I'm not clear on the lore, but he believes that being a familiar is on the career path to becoming a vampire.  I never understood why "regular humans" would be gofers for vampires, like in the movies, but this explains it.

Apparently he wants to be a vampire so badly that it's blinded him.  I forgot about that scene with him and the other familiars in the waiting room.  That should've been a clue, but at the time I just got a laugh out of it.  Now there's Topher, who never even wanted to be one, so I'm not sure what his reason is for taking the job.  I'm curious to see where this goes.

[HotRats2112]

On 4/22/2020 at 7:41 PM, Orbert said:

I forgot about that scene with him and the other familiars in the waiting room.  That should've been a clue, but at the time I just got a laugh out of it.  

The really old guy who said "any day now" his master was going to turn him.  At 80 years old. That's almost like making a baby into a vampire.  Who does that?? 

[thuganomics85]

Beginning season two now!

Pretty great opener and I enjoyed both of the episodes.  My favorite was probably the first one, thanks to Haley Joel Osment as Topher and Benedict Wong as Wallace.  The former was clearly having a ball with both the arrogant, self-serving suck-up at first and then the hilariously rabid zombie at the end.  I'm glad he's been getting more work now, even if he'll never be a big movie star or anything.  And then there is Wong, who is probably one of my favorite actors ever (he really elevated that series Marco Polo years ago), and I loved him here as a necromancer/con-artist, complete with souvenir license plate keychains and always trying to find ways to up-charge for his work!  Wouldn't mind seeing either of those two again.

The second was still good though.  I like the idea that even many vampires find ghosts to be outlandish and don't believe in them.  Just the idea that ghosts are unbelievable to them amuses me quite a bit.  Fun seeing the main trio interact with the ghosts versions of themselves and also the return Jeff/Gregor in ghost form.  Curious about ghost Nadja remaining behind in that creepy doll.

Good old Colin annoying everyone to death by his attempts at "comedy."  The Updog gag was amusing, but I think my favorite bits concerning him was not being able to find a license plate with his name since apparently no one has bought one since the 70s according to Wallace, and him getting excited about going to a play from a local arts college, because he'll be able to feed off of a lot of energy there!

Guillermo is wracking up more vampire deaths to protect the trio, all while they continue to undermine and abuse him.  Yeah, some kind of reckoning is bound to happen here!

[SoMuchTV]

Just now watching this, but I have to wonder about  all the posters asking about updog. I guess you’ve never run into a pycost or a henway?

[Orbert]

Updog has only been around as long as calling someone a dog eventually led to asking "What's up, dog?"  I suspect it's probably limited to certain countries/regions as well.  Pycost and henway have been around for a long time, and are a bit more universal.

[Jordan61]

On 4/16/2020 at 10:54 AM, peridot said:

The ghost episode was hilarious.  I wasn't sure if Laszlo could see Jeff's ghost, but I love that he ran back to get the warrior for assistance.  The ectoplasm from his ghost was disgusting!

Sorry, I know this is a really old comment! But I'm currently rewatching the series, and when Nandor attacks Jeff and gets covered in ectoplasm and says, "what's this gloopy shit?" I was cracking up.

Edited November 10 by Jordan61
Spelling