The Strain (Guillermo del Toro's New FX Summer Show)

[Guy Gardener]

It was a bottle episode, where nothing happened to forward the plot.

Bad Starain... Baaaaaaad.

However, the Vampires hUnters hooked up with hackergirl and there is no way that they can win the final battle without her help.

 

[AvBaur]

I'm kind of annoyed by the massive coincidence of the hacker responsible for the phone blackout being in the same gas station as our heroes. Other than that, I thought the episode was okay. I was hoping to learn more about the vampire SWAT team, though.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I'm glad you-know-who died. He was getting on my nerves. I was going to be very disappointed if they were going to be able to save him that easily.

It definitely was a filler episode, but at least things happened and it was entertaining. I liked how before Eph had no problem killing the vampires, but now that it was personal it meant something. It seems to echo Nora's character arc just a couple of episodes ago. I'm not sure what that will mean in the grand scheme of things, but I did enjoy some little characterization on Eph's part. Plus, we got more Vasiliy and Abe, which is always a good thing. I was wondering when Vasiliy was going to start interacting with our main heroes.

My bf is almost over the show and I don't blame him. I'm still entertained - and so is he - but I think he got annoyed that the main plot didn't move forward with this episode. I can understand that, but I'm also used to shows like Angel or Supernatural which had plenty filler, monster-of-the-week episodes. They are going to stretch this premise fairly thin by the time the show ends, although I am excited to learn more about the vampire vigilantes/hunters. If they can find a way to spice up the main narrative, then they should be in good shape.

 

[Greg Cox]

It was a bottle episode, where nothing happened to forward the plot.

I wouldn't go that far. A major character died, the rat-catcher finally linked up with the rest of the cast, the blonde hacker chick has (rather coincidentally) joined our merry band of vampire hunters, and our heroes figured out that UV lights can be used against the strigoi . . . .

That moves things along, amidst all the carnage.

 

[kitik]

Yeah, that definitely was not a "nothing happened" episode.

They are going to stretch this premise fairly thin by the time the show ends,

How many episodes are left?

 

[Guy Gardener]

13 episodes in total. Finishing October 05.

Which means that there are 5 left to go.

 

[Greg Cox]

13 episodes in total. Finishing October 05.

Which means that there are 5 left to go.

Followed by a 2nd season somewhere down the road . . ..

 

[JD]

And if they do follow the arc of the books, it should be a pretty different show by season three.
As for this episode, I enjoyed it. It was definitely the most exciting episode yet. While the character wasn't that interesting, I'm a big fan of Sean Astin, so I was still sad to see him go. I am happy that we finally seem to have most of the core group together now.
So did they blow up "Apu" at the end? The last we saw him he was refusing to leave, and then they blew the store up.

 

[Borgminister]

Someone sure botched the money shot in this episode... I laughed out loud instead of getting the anticipated and desired feeling of awe, horror and disgust.

But botox and botched plastic surgery do not a scary monster vampire make. That reveal was very disappointing, IMO... the big bad was more effective when hooded.

Direction is spotty throughout this series, as came to the fore in the quicky scene... add to that cutting back and forth to other scenes, and it came off disjointed and hardly "in my bunk" worthy.

Still I watch, since it beats (IMO) the other summer substitutes of the genre.

 

[Reverend]

Someone sure botched the money shot in this episode... I laughed out loud instead of getting the anticipated and desired feeling of awe, horror and disgust.

But botox and botched plastic surgery do not a scary monster vampire make. That reveal was very disappointing, IMO... the big bad was more effective when hooded.

I had a similar thought initially, but then it occurred to me that the creature we saw writhing in it's rags in the first episode was considerably less massive that what we saw in that flashback.

Perhaps it's *meant* to look bloated because at that point, it was very well fed, since it had a whole camp full of people to gorge itself on. Like the way a leech swells up once it's satiated.

 

[kitik]

I thought it looked fine. Certainly nothing great, but we've seen far more lame monsters on tv.


That said, this was not the greatest of episodes. There was some seriously bad acting, and some really bad editing at the start too.

At least it seems like all our people are finally together, and more importantly, on the same page about what they have to do to fight this thing. Family is still a distraction though, and it looks like it will be next episode too.

Edit: Oh yeah, mister hispanic tough guy isn't quite together with everyone else just yet. Just speculating, but he seems like the type of guy who'd go after Eichorst on his own to try to get revenge for his friend. So while he's doing that, our group will randomly run into him and add him to the ranks.



Also, at this point, I'm a little surprised that the police are still wasting their time with regular prisoner transfers and the like. Surely they're too busy responding to reports of monsters all over the city by now. Because as we've clearly seen, there are monsters all over the city by now.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What reports?

No cellphones, internet.

I'm guessing the newspapers are being handled, and radio is probably all jammed up too.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Finally broke down and decided to work out the timeline on this show so far since people have been complaining about not knowing how much time has passed. In chronological order, counting from sunup:

Spoiler: More to save space than anything else...

February 8th, Night 0: Nosferatu lands in NYC, feasts and infects the plane. Nora and Eph investigate, find four 'survivors.' Airport boss gets head smashed in. Abe gets locked up. Gus/Samwise sneak the coffin out of the airport and over the river. The airplane's 206 'dead' wake up and move out. Little Girl Emma comes home.

February 9th, Day 1: Gus delivers coffin to Eichorst. The 'survivors' get sprung. Eichorst visits Abe. Eph attends AA. Bolivar's orgy goes wrong. Airline pilot returns to the hospital as the other survivors start getting bloodshot eyes. Little Girl Emma converts her dad.

February 10th, Day 2: CDC/HHS stonewalls Eph. Samwise has an attack of conscience. Abe gets out of jail, meets Nora. Fet notices a rat problem. Bolivar takes an unintended dump. Airline pilot turns, rampages through hospital before getting killed by Eph. Autopsy. Samwise confesses all, gets punched out.

February 11th, Day 3: Rich Guy hires Hacker Girl. Ansel has dog for lunch, chains himself up. Neighbor drops by at the wrong moment. Rich Guy has liver transplant. Eph and Nora meet Emma and her dad. Abe to the rescue. Nora freaks out.

February 12th, Day 4: Bolivar dines on urologist, then 'fixer' for a snack. Hacker Girl kills the Internet/cell phones. Evil Lawyer Lady in bad shape, Nanny takes the kids and bails. Nora visits her mom. Ansel's wife hangs herself. Eph and Abe kill Ansel. Fet takes a walk in the sewers. Vamps attack hospital. Eph returns to CDC, narrowly escapes trap with Samwise.

February 13th, Day 5: Eph gets arrested. Abe has a near-miss. Samwise/Gus/Big Guy go body-dumping. Fet has a bad day at work. Eph's ex-wife ignores good advice. The Eclipse - Vamps get a few moments to feast on all NYC. Big Guy gets bit. "NOW you show up!" Matt gets bit. Eph escapes custody. Evil Lawyer Lady's husband comes home.

February 14th (Valentine's Day), Day 6: Samwise tries (unsuccessfully) to help the Buffy Gang trap Eichorst. Gus & Sick Big Guy behind bars. Evil Lawyer Lady's kids insist on going home. Meet the Vampire SWAT Team. The Buffy Gang meets Fet and Hacker Girl, have a bad night at a convenience store. Samwise gets scratched. Eph barely saves his son from Matt. Fet & Hacker Girl visit her apartment. Eph/Nora share a bonding moment over a bonfire. Hacker Girl spills her guts. The police van trip from hell.

TV reports flu outbreak in NYC.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Eichorst could have been making Sewer Vamps for months.

(In which case, they would be fully mature drones?)

The 250 people on the plane were a snack pack for the Master during transit.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Wouldn't Fet have been noticing a rat problem long before Day 2 then? And those Sewer Vamps sure weren't acting too smart. No, those were the plane victims. Hide in the sewers during the day, come up at night and attack at random, then back down before sunrise. The Eclipse (and the show totally botched this IMHO) was a chance for the Sewer Vamps (plus whoever they'd infected up to that point) to attack en masse during the day, when virtually every New Yorker was outside staring up at the sky. Concentrate on heavily packed areas like Times Square or Central Park, and you can do a LOT of damage in 5-7 minutes (the window of opportunity the eclipse would have offered). Especially when you don't even have to kill them - just scratch them.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Wikipedia says that there are 32 million rats in New York City.

Do you really think that many rodents can get their shit together collectively in just 2 days?

I suppose it's about how they are "sensing" danger?

One of them sees a vampire eating rats, so it runs, other rats sees a running rat and runs, and so forth until there's a stampede of 32 million rats heading towards Jersy.

Or can they feel the Vampires telepathic wavelength?

 

[Nightowl1701]

It's not about feel, it's about smell. The Strain's vampires basically piss ammonia out their new androgynous 'cloaca' once they feed. Remember all those stains that show up on the walls under UV light wherever there's a vampire attack? Rats don't like ammonia (to put it mildly).

 

[Guy Gardener]

I can see the smell doing that.

 

[sojourner]

You can see the smell?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Smellovision replaced television like 6 months ago.

Get with the program.