Reboot – Season 1 Episode 5 “What We Do in the Shadows” Recap & Review

What We Do in the Shadows

In Season 1 Episode 5 of Reboot, Hannah pushes Gordon to finally start listening to Reed’s concerns, while she helps Zack with his own life problems.

Bree meanwhile goes on a retreat for “a night of female discovery,” which is really just taking mushrooms and wandering the woods alone. When she gets lost in the woods, she calls Clay to come help her.

Clay picks up Bree, but he urges her to stay in the car while he takes care of something inside a house. Bree suspects something is going on, so she sneaks inside. But she’s surprised to stumble upon an AA meeting. Clay is introducing himself and telling everyone he’s 30 days sober.

The next morning, Bree thanks Clay for helping each other out. The two laugh about their roles now being switched. All these years, Bree needed to loosen up, while Clay needed to get clean.

After Hannah sets up a dinner for Reed and Gordon, she goes with Zack to his ex-girlfriend’s house. He needs her help convincing Marcy to let him share custody of their dog Butternut.

Hannah says everything right and even promises to let the dog stay in her office while Zack is filming. She’s starting to feel good about being a part of actors’ personal lives. That is, until Marcy brings out the ugliest, most feral dog she’s ever seen.

Reed and Gordon have a surprisingly good dinner. Gordon compliments Reed’s skills and comedic timing. He explains that it’s a shame Reed has to nitpick everything, that can’t let go and focus on giving an excellent performance.

Reed thanks him, but he notices something similar going on with Gordon. He thinks Gordon is so smart and sensitive and talented–so why doesn’t he try to tell real stories?

Later, Gordon tells Hannah he had a productive dinner with Reed. Maybe next time, he and Hannah can go out together as a family.

The Episode Review

I can’t tell that much thought went into the writing of this (filler) episode. With almost no build-up, we get a roundabout way of introducing Clay’s alcoholism and apparent journey to sobriety. He and Bree experience some trite connection, while Hannah’s and Zack’s arc seems meant entirely for cheap laughs.

In the end, at least some respect is earned between Reed and Gordon, but it’s vague what that really means for them.

It seems Reboot is so focused on this debate between the importance of deeper meaning and comedy, that the show itself doesn’t allow time to establish either.