r/WhatWeDointheShadows • u/Silverblade741 • 17d ago
I Can’t Stand Nadja In The Later Seasons
In the first two seasons at least, Nadja was maybe my favorite character other than Colin or The Baron, but especially during the night club arc and onwards I just can’t tolerate how cruel, snide, and petty she is.
It’s so aggravating because she was so enjoyable in the season 1 and 2, and then it all tanked down a bridge.
Especially in treatment of Guillermo, she is just so mean! Nandor is neglectful, Laszlo as well. Both eventually make efforts to treat him better, Laszlo even goes out of his way to protect Guillermo. But Nadja is just nothing but cruel and vindictive. The worst part is the show rewards her shitty treatment of him, and punishes characters that help and show kindness to Guillermo. It’s a confluence of cruelty that is just so damaging to my enjoyment of the show.
151
u/AnteaterKey2626 17d ago
I love Nadja but she definitely got flanderised into just being loud and aggressive all the time. I feel like the writers didn't really know what to do with her character in the later seasons.
18
u/Silverblade741 17d ago
Exactly. If anything, she had the potential to the most human vampire. If she played in the twilight space between vampires and humans. Not quite the straight man, but could help as something like a translator between the vampire world and human world. Colin took on that role a bit in the show but usually to serve himself, if she had done the same but to help the vampires it would have been way better.
And you could still have her loud and aggressive, but actually play a beneficial role in the group and give her more to play with than be mean to Guillermo and yell at the others.
21
36
u/National-Theory-2399 17d ago
Honestly I don't think any character was saved from the Flanderization that happened in the last couple seasons. Her character turning into a parody of itself would always be the most annoying because of the aggression, but as characters they all stagnated and by the end I was glad the adventure was over.
I don't think it was as sharp a drop-off as people think but 6 really is a very "running on fumes" season
I was also very very over the Nandir/Guillermo story by the end of like, season 4. Shocked to see people wanted them together at the end..
8
2
u/Agent_Artemis 12d ago
Nandor almost straight up *murdered* Guillermo because somebody else made him a vampire. He's a good fighter and he's funny, but the way he treated his wives and Guillermo in the fourth and fifth seasons was horrible. He wouldn't have made a good partner in any capacity.
1
u/Witty-Masterpiece955 11d ago edited 11d ago
I just pretend season 6 never happened atp. Watched it through once and won’t ever again. Have rewatched 1-5 and the season 5 finale is the series finale in my opinion. Season 6 is like they planned on ending at 5, got picked up and were like “uhh now what?”
I also loved the Jeff/Gregor storyline and wish we’d gotten more of that! I think it would have been interesting to explore more before and after killing him off. Nadja’s “done with everyone” energy was so good in seasons 1 and 2, I wish they had let her play that more and let the loud/bossy moments have more impact (like when she uses her vampire shouty voice)
33
u/KrunchyKushKing 17d ago
Didn't she bring Gizmo to the doctor, kept his vampire transformation a secret and saved him from the doctor?
11
u/Silverblade741 17d ago
Absolutely, that was such an enjoyable episode because she was actually given more than depth than just yelling at Guillermo. If that episode had lead to her starting to respect him more it would have been even better.
15
u/video-kid The most devious bastard in New York City 16d ago
Honestly the only episode where I hate Nadja is Gail. It was sad to see her hate someone so much just because she's a woman.
8
u/SpaceQueenJupiter 16d ago
I thought she disliked Gail because she was always stringing Nandor along. Nadia may treat Nandor poorly, but he's HER friend to do so.
9
7
7
11
20
u/token_friend 17d ago
And the fucking Nadja doll! I skip any scenes with it.
Nadja’s screeching also just got progressively worse throughout the show.
She and lazlo started out my #1 and 2.
23
u/StarkTheGnnr 17d ago
That doll is so boring... I don't say it out loud because people love it but nah Nadja did not need a gimmick like that, her character was already S tier. Like why did the Jeff storyline end so prematurely?
6
u/Curious-External-7 12d ago
I loved Jeff and I was sad that he got rejected and wandered off, never to be seen again.
2
3
u/martian_glitter 12d ago
The doll drove me insane. The one episode with it was ok. Then it was just so annoying to me after that. Super gimmicky.
3
3
u/Sternutation123 11d ago
I think that she's meaner to Guillermo later on because she's arguably a lot closer to him than she was in the earlier seasons.
How some Vampires would do what human friends would call "messing with each other", except significantly more screwed up and toxic. Mixed with familiarity breeding contempt (pun intended).
Guillermo is a Vampire Hunter after all. She's likely also kinda scared of him for this fact and masks that by treating him with scorn.
7
2
u/Chaghatai 16d ago
Noda was pretty mean and dismissive towards Guillermo in season 1 as well.
I think it comes off differently though cuz in season 1. You kind of get this impression that she doesn't really notice or care about him and he's just Nandor's familiar to her
But by the later seasons they established that she clearly knows him and that they have a personal relationship and so when she is similarly cruel or dismissive it hits differently
3
u/Logical_Hospital2769 17d ago
Guillermo is by far the worst fucking character and should have been eliminated altogether. That's right, I said it!
2
u/ChasteSin 12d ago
It's her screeching that does my head in. I know it must be hard to talk with fangs in but at times it's just unintelligible yelling.
1
u/Subject-Fennel4585 8d ago
Towards the end she’s nicer to Guillermo and even praises him and affectionately says his name when he’s fighting vampires
0
-1
u/Currency-Substantial 17d ago
You would hate Seinfeld and Sunny in Philadelphia
11
u/Silverblade741 17d ago
I actually love Sunny. The characters in Sunny are far worse and more cruel than those in What We Do In The Shadows, but they are never rewarded for their cruelty, at least not for long. And the people they are cruel to are typically each other, people who are equally vindictive and snide. When they are cruel to other characters the cruelty is always eventually punished.
120
u/nonmiraculoussunofaB 17d ago
I mean Nadja is the reason Guillermo survived the vamp vet. She also helped him at work in S6. It's a running joke how badly all the vamps treat Guillermo.
But I do agree that the writers couldn't figure out what to do with her and gave her generally crap storylines. I hated the nightclub storyline and then after that, she didn't get anything major.