It’s nice to see Gregor back. His recent beheading really works for him. It’s a good look even if it makes conversation distracting. Nadja’s reincarnating recurring lover pulls his best Beeteljuice faces to mark his claim on his new haunts. It is hysterical watching the vampires flee from the spooky spectacle. It is also gratifying to see it doesn’t get to Colin, who is different from the other vampires.
Ghosts, Nadja explains, are the spirits that are in people which get out after they die. Laszlo (Matt Berry) makes a very good point, one which probably hasn’t come up in vampire mythology before this. Vampires are dead, their human counterparts have given up the ghost. Except of course Colin who doesn’t even know his own backstory. So could there be disembodied spirits of the old selves looking for some kind of closure to cross them over to the other side? This is a weighty subject best explored in a comic setting and when the undead reassemble for a second séance they are deadly serious.
Their efforts turn a haunting into a contagion. And this time the poltergeists are personal. The three sanguinary vampires get to interact with the people they used to be, somewhat. Nandor forgot the language of his birth and only remembers how to say “good morning.” His human counterpart comes across as so needy for more we know right away this couldn’t be anyone’s ghost but his. Nadja’s animas has nothing but enmity for what she became. The ghostly Nadja kvetches and kvetches about the wasted life her vampire self has led since she stopped living. Laszlo’s deceased remnant has no problems with what he’s become since he stopped ceasing. He finds his vampire self quite becoming, so much so it’s not too far of a stretch to say he can get himself aroused.
The problem with arousal in ghosts is that self-satisfaction is too far out of reach to get a good grip. Laszlo has always been more than a bit of a narcissist, and this is classic get-lost-in-your-own-reflection fetish play. His unfinished business is a case of terminal coitus interruptus. Nadja took his life before climax and well, without climax, the afterlife is an anti-climactic hell. The best part about the scene where he brings up the idea of a spiritual circle jerk is the swelling strings in the background music. Dare he give in to self pleasure? The payoff, which comes later, shows what a huge burden unfulfilled love can be in the eternal afterlife.
Nandor’s ghost is drawn to a horse hung on the wall. Even in his old language we can hear the impatient piquancy of the warlord’s tone. The unfinished business turns out to be very sweet, and gives us an insight into the vampire warrior’s vulnerability. He loves his horse, more than he loved people. He cried while eating it to stave off starvation. The final reunion is quite touching, as both Nandor’s are truly moved by horseflesh.