Director: Jemaine Clement
First aired: 2022
Contains spoilers
A return to Wellington Paranormal a spin-off series of What We Do in the Shadows. Season 1 had a vampire episode and this episode comes from season 3 and features an energy vampire (though one very different to Colin Robinson from the more famous, vampire-based spin-off that kept the name What We do in the Shadows).
Wellington Paranormal follows the cops O’Leary (Karen O'Leary) and Minogue (Mike Minogue) who, under the guiding hand of Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu), form the Paranormal Unit of the police force (a very unofficial/secret division). O’Leary and Minogue were side characters from the original feature length film and the series is filmed documentary style that offers a feel not only of the other vehicles in this family of programmes but such series as Cops.
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| on patrol |
This starts with the cops in their patrol car and Minogue considering they should have bespoke jackets with “P.U.” on it – despite it kind of spelling poo. They get a call and find a guy terrified, he has been accosted by a giant man-sized rat which walked on two-legs, the fear being so much he wet himself. Then a woman reports another fear but she is quickly abandoned as a man screams from over the road. He claims to have been attacked by a shark – and he has a bite on his leg to prove it. All three work together, all now have a Mallen streak and all had been to a place called the Fear Factory – a permanent haunt.
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| the chasm |
The cops go there and several of the attraction's actors begin to argue amongst themselves and with the manager Joe (Vaughan Slinn). Minogue arrests them all, a little previous, suggests O’Leary, but certainly they all have to come to the station. After interviewing some actors, they interview Joe, with Maaka in the room. He suggests he is hungry and then asks what Maaka fears and suddenly, where the man was, is a giant spider (Maaka gains a Mallen streak). Joe is placed back in cell but there is a disruption. In his cell a cop sits with feet on the toilet, the floor having become a chasm. They get a plank to try and get him out and, in the confusion, the chasm becomes Joe who leaves the station, becoming the worst fear of each cop he passes.
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| public speaking to sock puppets |
Maaka reasonably deduces that Joe is a shapeshifter who feeds on fear. Indeed, CCTV footage suggests that Joe has become younger after the smorgasbord of fear he has just devoured. It is up to Minogue (whose greatest fears are public speaking, sock puppets and balloons) and O’Leary (who claims to not be afraid of anything) to apprehend him. With them goes recurring character Officer Parker (Thomas Sainsbury) who fears everything. Just how do you stop someone who can become the thing you fear the most?
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| Parker and Maaka |
This was a neat little episode, which like all of them relies heavily on the dead-pan interactions of O’Leary and Minogue. Sergeant Maaka is great support to them but they are front and centre. This is one of the episodes where Parker comes into his own also. I said on the season 1 episode that this are fun but not as funny as their originating film, they are also not as funny (for me) as the other spin-off series but they are worthwhile nevertheless and being short episodes never outstay their welcome. The seasons have a consistency to them but we are judging the episode and this deserves a solid 6.5 out of 10. Thanks to Sarah who got me the Seasons 1-4 collection for Christmas.
The episode’s imdb page is here.
On Blu-Ray (Season 3) @ Amazon US
On Blu-Ray (seasons 1-4) @ Amazon UK
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