‘Reginald the Vampire’ Recap: ‘Just Like Heaven’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

REGINALD THE VAMPIRE -- "Just Like Heaven" Episode 210 -- Pictured: Jacob Batalon as Reginald Andres -- (Photo by: James Dittiger/SYFY)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Two Finale of ‘Reginald the Vampire’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
One particular aspect of life that a great deal of us worry about deeply, is whether or not we are a good person and will be regarded as such from a legacy standpoint. Because no one wants to be remembered as a jerk, but some people are, and life is so crazy and so painful and powerful, that sometimes… we lose our way and submit to darkness. So, how then do we stay good? How then do we find our way back from the shadows, if by chance we’ve lost our way? Well, those questions and that concept are top of mind today, simply because it they were all featured in the season two finale of Reginald the Vampire on SYFY.

For ‘Just Like Heaven’ saw Reginald and his friends were stunned at being spared by Bolestro, and Maurice and Angela found great meaning in this. Because they’d spent so much of their eternal lives… doing little and sowing trouble and flexing power, and they began to wonder if there was more to endless life than such matters and fear. So, they decided… they could be more, they could in fact… use their powers for good. Which prompted them to help out everyday people instead of eating them outright and give them a little bit of hope in a chaotic world and their journey showcased how being good is a choice, and that we can come back from bad times and be better if we recognize where we are and put in the work to be more.

But that is of course, the perfect scenario for inflection and new direction. For most of us worry about how to find good when we’re in the darkness. Which is what Reginald dealt with here. Because he was listless and angry over what Uriel did to Sarah and his own life, and that prompted him, to hone his new power, which was freezing an individual in time, to use against Uriel when he finally tracked him down. To instill fear into an angel’s heart moments before Reginald was to put him down. For he truly thought revenge was the answer and that he had to kill to find peace. But in that moment, where he was ready to burn Uriel in the literal sense with a flamethrower, no less… Reginald pondered upon who he wanted to be. Was he to be an agent of vengeance after spending a month trying to convince an angel that vampires could be good, could be better? Or was he to be the man everyone knew him to be. Smart, just, and good. Thankfully, he chose the latter option and spared Uriel’s life and offered forgiveness.

Which hammered home that dark times are external in nature we can either embrace them or fight them and rise above from them to be the better we want to be, to be Reginald, and he was rewarded for going that route. Since Uriel took him to that strange purgatory to see Sarah once more. So, they could speak honesty about their feelings and fight to bring her home. Which was an option in this place, because obviously, the netherworld has some kind of big boss that people call many different names, and perhaps they could grant a gift upon Sarah and her own second chance at life and a life with Reginald, so they sought the boss down and met them. As it turned out, ‘God’… was a toaster and friendly enough to grant their wish with a twist. For a life had to be given to bring one back, and Reginald had two, his human side and his vampire side.

Which sadly… the vampire stuff is what Sarah inherited upon her return to Earth. But hey, at least she’s alive…ish? Either way, that was quite the twist to throw down, one that sets the stage for a wild third season. But before we cross our fingers for that, because as of press time, SYFY has not granted this series a third season, we can celebrate a great finale. One that really did explore how we find the right path forward in life and how we zero in on an identity that fulfills us. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that every moment in this story had some measure of beauty, including Todd’s brief hello/goodbye with Mike’s spirit and even Uriel’s journey and that’s just rare to see in a horror story… but it works here. For this is a different kind of vampire/horror story, one that is truly special and hopefully we do indeed get more of this little gem, so we can enjoy more beautiful moments that celebrate the human condition.

---

Watch ‘Reginald the Vampire’

Powered by JustWatch