Parody is a particularly amusing gag for TV series, but some are better than others. However, one of the best took dedication as, in its fourth year, What We Do In The Shadows spent over half of the season setting up a perfect HGTV parody as Season 4, Episode 8 “Go Flip Yourself,” that spoofs home improvement shows, specifically The Property Brothers. If you ever thought Jonathan and Drew Scott felt a little sinister, this is the perfect episode for you!
“Go Flip Yourself” Flipped the ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Format
The episode is completely structured like an episode of the fictional series, “Go Flip Yourself,” which Lazlo (Matt Berry) became obsessed with at the beginning of the season and commissions to fix up the vampire’s lair. The show is playing in the background in Season 4, Episode 1, “Reunion,” and Season 4, Episode 6, “The Wedding.” (To state the obvious, just the name itself is such a perfect parody name, as a play on both flipping houses and “go f*ck yourself.”) If, for whatever reason, you’re not familiar with the franchise that this episode is riffing on, Drew and Jonathan Scott are a duo of a real estate agent and a contractor, respectively. They are constantly working, with seven seasons of their anchor series and multiple spin-offs all about home makeovers. Other shows like this include Love It or List It, Flip or Flop, Fixer Upper, and Maine Cabin Masters.
All the home improvement genre conventions are there in “Go Flip Yourself,” including: an all-new intro, bad generic sound-alike rights-free rock music, branded blindfolds, terrible “dad joke” humor where “knucklehead” is the worst insult, pop-up advertisements for other shows, the sense that the hosts secretly hate each other, brand partnerships with Kohls, and misleading cliffhangers that create tension in such a low-stakes environment. The narrator, Tina Morasco, is the real-life narrator of Love It or List It, adding to the effectiveness of the parody. Even the credits include a fictional production company logo. What We Do In The Shadows went all out with this one.
Real-life twin actors and comedians Randy and Jason Sklar, who themselves hosted Cheap Seats on ESPN, play Bran and Toby Daltry, the fictional brothers who host “Go Flip Yourself.” As the episode progresses, the reality of what it would actually be like if vampires appeared on one of these shows plays out. Nadjia (Natasia Demetriou) immediately kills one of the brothers, for example, and hypnotizes the crew and the audience to cover it up. Meanwhile, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) has to run around behind the “Go Flip Yourself” gang and go to comedic lengths to make sure that they don’t install any windows, which would let sunlight in and kill the vampires, or dig up any of the bodies in the backyard.
Since What We Do In The Shadows is a mockumentary-style sitcom, this wasn’t a huge departure for the series. Other shows have done this, like 30 Rock‘s Bravo parody, Queen of Jordan, or Community‘s “Basic Lupine Urology” spoofing Law & Order, to more dramatic effect. But it’s different enough to make for an absurd, memorable departure.
“Go Flip Yourself” Proves That Departure Episodes Aren’t Always Filler
Set aside the fact that it’s audacious to call any episode of television “filler,” when we should be so lucky to get shows like What We Do In The Shadows that run for six seasons and take the time to branch out for silly extended bits, “Go Flip Yourself” advances the season’s plot as much as any episode of a sitcom can. The mansion’s disrepair is a running thread in Season 4 from the very beginning and pays off in this episode…mostly. Several character arcs hit important beats in this episode as well.
Take Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and his “new” wife, Marya (Parisa Fakhri), for example. Bran pitches a stereotypical “man cave” for Nandor, complete with cowboy saddles and beanbag chairs. Marya is a little bit too enthusiastic about the idea, which causes Nandor to see some flaws in the relationship. Meanwhile, Guillermo has his hopes dashed yet again as Bran envisions a larger room for him that’s more livable and then reneges on that promise. The only character who doesn’t really have a story arc this episode is Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), who is still a child at this point in the season.
Because this is a sitcom, and therefore resistant to significant change for its characters or its setting, the “Go Flip Yourself” crew doesn’t really transform the mansion. They add some rooms and a lot of “live, laugh, love”-esque signage and tchotchkes. But that’s it! The afore-mentioned fake song that plays over the reveal with lyrics like “this is our home/but something has changed” makes the lack of change extra hilarious. Then, of course, there’s the ending.
The Twist Ending Is One of ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Most Meme-Able Moments
What We Do In The Shadows doesn’t stop at spoofing the idea of vampires appearing on a different kind of reality show. Switching up the format was not enough for the FX series. It takes it further with an incredible twist ending, revealing that Lazlo’s nemesis, Simon the Devious (Nick Kroll), is not only posing as “Bran Daltry” and the evil genius behind Go Flip Yourself, but has been renovating homes across the country as part of a long con to gain access to the mansion and steal Lazlo’s magic hat. According to Simon, he pitched, shot, and produced over 150 episodes of the show just to accomplish this one goal. He also befriended the now-deceased Toby Daltry, who was just a regular guy with no architecture experience, convinced him to be his partner, and paid for his education.
“You really are the most devious bastard in New York City,” declares Lazlo, which instantly became one of the show’s most quotable and meme-able moments. While it’s only Kroll’s third (and final) appearance on the series, it pays off a joke about how badly he wants that hat. The audience also gets to meet Simon the Devious’ crew one last time, including Elvis (Shawn Wayne Klush) after he betrayed Lazlo and Nadja, and Count Rapula (Mike Dara). Then, because the witch’s skin hat is cursed, at the end of the episode, Simon explodes and is never heard from again. What a knucklehead!
What We Do In The Shadows is streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
