Guillermo has left his master behind, leaving the vampires to fend for themselves. After a week, they are invited to an exclusive theatrical festival.
Tropes:
- All Part of the Show: Nadja is initially confused at the actual Guillermo leaping in and murdering a vampire, wondering if this is still part of the Council's show. It's very quickly disproven as he starts annihilating the vampire audience.
- Apologetic Attacker: Guillermo apologizes to the first few vampires that he kills.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Vlad reminds the crowd that this is the cardinal rule of vampirism and the one crime that mandates execution.
- At Arm's Length: The Théâtre des Vampires, apparently anticipating that the Staten Island crew would try to blame the murders on Guillermo, use this joke in their "simulation" of why a human familiar trying to kill a vampire would be ridiculous.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: In a Call-Back to Nandor taking the fall for Guillermo the last time they got put on trial by the Council, this time Nandor does try to avoid execution by blaming the vampire deaths on his familiar... then say that he already punished Guillermo by killing him, and then getting surprisingly heartfelt about how abandoned and betrayed he felt by his loyal familiar walking out on him. Vladislav has to uncomfortably interrupt and ask him not to get into his "personal emotional stuff".
- Badass Longcoat: In his Let's Get Dangerous! moment, Guillermo puts on an excellent example of this trope, a long trenchcoat with plenty of pockets to hide wooden stakes, crucifixes, and bottles of holy water.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Guillermo unloads fury at the theatre, slaying all the vampires (besides the main cast) who didn't escape in time.
- Bilingual Bonus: Guillermo's mom only speaks Spanish.
- Brick Joke: None of the vampires know Guillermo's last name. He tells them at the end of the episode.
- Camera Abuse: A few of the fleeing vampires trip over the film crew, cutting the video for a moment.
- Call-Back:
- This episode shows the consequences of the slayings of Baron Afanas, one of the guards in the sewer, the vampiric assassins, and the raid on the 70s' themed vampire family.
- Guillermo returns to the manor to pick up Topher's mini-fridge.
- Carol is listed among the deceased in the
In Memoriam montage. - Nandor's last clean shirt is his commemorative Michael Jordan jersey from the 1992 US Olympic Men's Basketball Team, as seen in the Season 1 episode "Citizenship".
- Laszlo's outfit of last resort includes the green sweatpants that he was wearing while "dressed as a depressed person" in "The Orgy".
- Casual Sports Jersey: Nandor's last clean outfit is his souvenir jersey.
- Cliffhanger: Jemaine Clement acknowledges that the writers "wrote themselves into a corner" with this episode and joked about stepping back from his writing duties on the show so as not to have to deal with it. The season ends with Guillermo just having slaughtered hundreds of vampires right in front of his masters and Vladislav, an emissary of the Vampiric Council, revealing to them that a descendant of Van Helsing lives and is a threat to all of vampirekind. Nandor's oblivious reaction to this notwithstanding ("We had to pick up our own laundry!"), it's going to be awfully difficult for the gang to just pick back up where they left off in season 3.
- Comically Missing the Point: Nandor's reaction to Guillermo clearing the theatre? To scold him for needing to do his own laundry.
- Creator Cameo: Jemaine Clement returns as Vlad the Poker who hosts the event.
- Door Dumb: Three of the vampires fight with the front door, until Colin reminds them to pull.
- Dramatization: The theatre montage depicts the deaths of the vampires throughout the series.
- For Want Of A Nail: The lives of the vampires, as well as the Vampire Council's plan on executing them, very nearly fall apart because Guillermo quit for a couple of days.
- Given Name Reveal: Inverted with Guillermo, whose last name is revealed to be de la Cruz. On a smaller note, the memoriam video reveals that the vampire family's last name is Hustle.
- In Memoriam: In-Universe. A reel of lost vampires is played in the intermission as the council sets up a guillotine for the main vampires.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Vlad's recreation of Guillermo attacking a vampire shows a small child futilely swinging his arms at a tall vampire... who is the first to go by the sword of the real Guillermo.
- Internal Reveal: The trio finally discovers how Guillermo has been protecting them from vampire assassins, took part slaying that family, and what an incredible badass he truly is.
- Kryptonite Factor: The vampires get neutralized by silver rope, which apparently renders them powerless.
- Lured into a Trap: The vampires finally getting invited to the Théâtre des Vampires after having been denied a seat for centuries, turns out to be a trap by the Vampire Council to finally get them. Only Guillermo realizes it's a trap when he takes a better look at the invitation and notices the symbol of the vampire counsil on it.
- Meaningful Name: The full name of Guillermo de la Cruz translates to "Resolute protector of the Cross".
- Mundane Made Awesome: Colin makes a trip to the dry-cleaner sound like a life-or-death mission, just so he doesn't become the designated Errand Boy for it, and can also bargain with the others to move out of his room in the basement (and into a different room in the basement).
- Not Helping Your Case: Laszlo notes that what's happening on-stage is inaccurate... as they wouldn't prance around like tits, which isn't really denying the murders.
- Not Me This Time: The main vampires fervently protest that they've been declared suspects for deaths like the Hustle family and Ludwig, given that they weren't even aware of their deaths.
- Oh, Crap!: The trio and Colin realize that they're in deep shit as they're tied up when the magician takes off his mask and reveals himself to be a representative of the Vampiric Council.
- One-Steve Limit: Colin finds over 5000 Guillermos in the New York area. And four Mickey Guillermos, to boot, just to shoot down Laszlo's suggestion about "Guillermo" being a last name.
- Plot Hole: A minor one, but for fans of "The Curse" it's slightly glaring that this episode states the Hustle Dynasty were all killed, leaving no witnesses behind as to who did it, when the very memorable last shot of that fight was Guillermo flipping the bird to a big crowd of surviving vampires and falling backwards out of a second floor window. Obviously a necessary Retcon for the plot of this episode, but it's led to some Wild Mass Guessing (like the
hilarious image of Guillermo deciding that he had no choice but to go back to the Hustle Dynasty's house during the day and burn it down to cover his tracks). - Public Execution: The theatre's main event is the beheading of the main cast.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Vladislav's narration describes the murders that the housemates supposedly committed in rhyming couplets. This frequently entails Painful Rhymes and gratuitous Hip-Hop references, which leads to Colin remarking "They seem to be going for some sort of Hamilton vibe."
- Schmuck Bait: Guillermo points out that the Théâtre des Vampires' invitation has the Vampiric Council's emblem right on it and is obviously run by the Council, and asks if Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja could possibly be stupid enough to attend an event run by the organization that ordered their execution... then immediately starts booking it to the theater.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As soon as Guillermo kills the first vampire, Vlad flies away from the theatre.
- Shout-Out: The Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires, the episode's titular European vampire performing troupe that the main characters are very excited to watch, is a reference to the Théâtre des Vampires of The Vampire Chronicles.
- Skewed Priorities: As Nadja and Laszlo watch the Council's reenactment of supposed events, they're much more concerned with whether the actors performing as them are up to snuff, and rag on how unsatisfying the performance is. Nandor even lampshades that the two of them are somehow more concerned with the choreography rather than their impending death.
- Also, when Guillermo slays the vamps and stands proud, the group's reaction is... being ticked that he wasn't around to pick up their laundry.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Nandor continues his streak of not being very good at masking the truth, as he claims that Guillermo was killed, which is definitely why he's absent and not because Guillermo suddenly disappeared from their lives.
- Too Dumb to Live: The house vampires are not only too dim to realize the obvious trap they're falling for, they very nearly escape it just because they're so incompetent they don't have clean clothes.
- Trash of the Titans: After Guillermo leaves, the vampires all fail to clean up after themselves, leaving bodies and blood on the floor, candles burning the furniture, and wearing their last set of clean clothes.
- Two-Faced Aside: Lazslo pretends to make nice with the audience, while making snarky remarks immediately afterwards.
- Underestimating Badassery: Nandor explains that the Baron's death and most likely all the vampire deaths are Guillermo's fault, which Vlad dismisses as ridiculous by bringing out an actor playing Guillermo whom a vampire easily repels. Cue the real Guillermo, who promptly murders the vampire on-stage in front of everyone.
- Whole-Plot Reference: If the main characters had actually watched Interview with the Vampire, they wouldn't have been so surprised that attending something called the Théâtre des Vampires would lead directly to them being arrested and threatened with execution for murdering their own kind.
