What We Do In The Shadows: Colin Robinson's Season 5 Arc Makes No Sense
Contains spoilers for "What We Do in the Shadows" Season 5, Episode 4 — "The Campaign"
"What We Do in the Shadows" has been a wild ride for all the main characters, but few have gone through the kind of rollercoaster Colin Robinson's (Mark Proksch) arc has been. From his already weird starting point as a day-walking energy vampire to his increasing need to discover his roots in Season 3 and very non-Phoenix-like rebirth into a younger version of himself, the character has jumped a fair few hurdles over the show's first four seasons ... even without taking into account that one time he fell in love with a siren called Sheila (Catherine Cohen).
Season 5 returns Colin Robinson to his adult form, and promptly sets him on a course to become a comptroller. While a political career is extremely fitting for the character, the shocking revelation that there are lots of energy vampires out there pulls the rug from under the character's past adventures. During his struggle to find out more about himself in Season 3, did it never occur to Colin Robinson that he could meet some of those political energy vampires he mentions in "The Campaign" and ask them if they had any information about his species' history?
A world full of energy vampires doesn't mesh with Colin Robinson's Season 3 arc
Though he's one of the main characters, Colin Robinson has consistently been treated as the show's biggest mystery — to the point that even he doesn't quite know what he is. Early in "The Campaign," however, he casually notes that there are lots of energy vampires in politics, thus revealing that he's apparently known about their existence all along.
Thanks to Evie Russell's (Vanessa Bayer) appearance in Season 1 and return in this episode, the viewers have of course been aware that Colin Robinson isn't the only one of his kind. We've even fleetingly seen other energy vampires than these two, though they've been few and far between. Still, Colin Robinson's Season 3 quest to research energy vampires with Lazslo (Matt Berry) was presented in a way that strongly implied he had very few resources at his disposal and had to rely on strange clues and obscure texts to find out more about his species. Now, Season 5 suddenly unleashes an entire society of energy vampires — one that Colin Robinson doesn't seem particularly surprised by. So, if he was aware of them all along, why hasn't it occurred to him to ask around if he was so curious about his past before his rebirth phase? Why not consult Evie, at the very least, since apparently he's been able to find her whenever he wants all along?
Perhaps he simply didn't remember the other energy vampires during his last incarnation's final days in Season 3. Energy vampire memory seems to be a curious thing, as we find out in Season 4 when Colin Robinson turns out to have tons of hidden old diaries that effectively restore his usual personality. Did he learn about the other energy vampires from those, or does the show simply choose to ignore some of the previous events in order to introduce some cool new energy vampire lore? It remains to be seen, but right now, Season 5's energy vampire-filled Colin Robinson arc makes fairly little sense in the context of past events.