What We Do In The Shadows S5: Why Colin Robinson's Campaign Plotline Is His Best

Contains spoilers for "What We Do in the Shadows" Season 5 Episode 4 — "The Campaign"

The idea of Colin Robinson's (Mark Proksch) character in "What We Do in the Shadows" is, frankly, perfect; instead of just being a regular blood-sucking vampire, Colin is an "energy vampire," who feeds off the energy of humans by basically exasperating them until said energy leaves their body. We've all probably met a person similar to Colin in real life somewhere — a person with whom a conversation simply goes nowhere, and you're left standing there waiting for it to just be over so you can move on with your day. 

This is why his brief attempt to run for Staten Island comptroller in the fifth season of the supernatural comedy series is so perfect. In case you don't know what a comptroller does — and you probably don't — it's the term for a government official who oversees a district's finances, making it one of the more banal government roles around. (Apologies to any comptrollers who may be reading this.) In order to run for comptroller, Colin has to give long, meandering speeches and more or less bore his possible constituents to death... giving him a hilarious way to sap their energy.

Last season saw Colin go through... quite a remarkable journey, to say the least. After he dies at the age of 100, as all energy vampires apparently do, Laszlo (Matt Berry) discovers a bizarre baby version of Colin, who then grows into a creepy little boy. (All childlike iterations of Colin Robinson have Proksch's adult face on them, making them even more unsettling than you'd imagine could be possible.) His transformation comes at the right time, though; he's able to provide entertainment for Nadja's (Natasia Demetriou) ailing vampire night club, because there's nothing vampires love more than a freaky child singing showtunes.

Colin eventually reaches adulthood again — with a difficult teenage phase in there that causes plenty of trouble for Laszlo — and in Season 5, he's back to sapping energy from unsuspecting, irritated humans. With his ex-lover and emotional vampire Evie (Vanessa Bayer, returning after her guest spot in Season 1) by his side, Colin's campaign is floundering against his opponent, until Evie and Colin are brought before a council of energy vampires to discuss how bureaucracy is what feeds all energy vampires. Evie takes Colin's place as the candidate because Colin is just exhausted... and his political career ends right then and there.

"What We Do in the Shadows" airs on Thursday nights on FX.